Return To Me
by Measured
Summary: When the girl turned her way their eyes met. The cup dropped to the ground, the drink forgotten. Xavin/Karolina.


Title: Return To Me  
Series: Runaways  
Character/pairing: Xavin/Karolina  
Rating: PG  
Author's note: porn battle 13, coffee, reunion. Spoilers for the more recent issues if you're not caught up, or something. Yes, the first porn battle fic I finish isn't actually porn. No, I don't know either.

This is my headcanon for what happened after that whole thing went down.

in this case PWP stands for porn, what porn? Spoilers, if you're not caught up. This is my headcanon for what happened after _that_ happened.

**.**

Karolina had been out making a supply call. Food, some needed products, nothing much more. In They weren't really fun trips anymore. Two of their own were gone, and the next day might take more. In truth, she'd just wanted to get out from the hideout, which seemed as quiet as a tomb without Gert and Xavin there anymore.

Nothing felt right anymore. She wondered if it ever would.

The crosswalk was busy flashing red. Karolina thought of flying up and over it. Flying still hadn't lost its wonder, even if being thrust into the role of a super hero had. Sometimes she would just go out for the sheer joy of it, soaring out until she felt the wind whipping against her face.

Light reflected off of windows. She squinted at the coffee shop across the road. She hadn't been able to go into a Starbucks since it happened. She'd tried once, and broke down looking at the menu. It'd seem so superficial, but she could just remember going out and introducing Xavin to coffee that first time while Gert rolled her eyes at them both.

She saw someone drinking a cup and looking just like Xavin, but just kept blinking and thought _well, I've finally lost it_. Losing her parents, the chance to be accepted within her species, and finally her lover had done her in. Madness didn't feel any different, really. It wasn't like the movies made it look at all.

She held tighter to her bags, unable to look away from the doppelganger or her madness, she couldn't tell which. The Xavin or not Xavin looked so beautiful, her hair tousled back by the wind, the Xavin lookalike pushed it back and downed the drink in several gulps.

The traffic seemed so far away, a distant buzz compared to this vision which she was so sure would fade away. How long had it been, time passing by imperceptibly as she watched a mirror image of her lover.

When the girl turned her way their eyes met. The cup dropped to the ground, the drink forgotten. Brown liquid splashed over the pavement.

"Xavin?" She said, tight and barely able to believe.

Karolina may have held back from flying over the traffic, but Xavin had no such misgivings. She leapt the road in a single bound, vaulting over the midday traffic and proving that this had to be madness, for no mere lookalike would do _that_.

Well, if this was madness then she hoped it stayed if it meant Xavin stayed with it.

"I've really lost it, haven't I?" Karolina said softly.

"Lost what, love?" Xavin asked. "Should I go looking for it?"

"My marbles, as Gert would say if she were here," Karolina said.

"I do not know what these marbles are, but whoever has taken them from you will _pay_," Xavin said, shifting from male to female and back to female again. Features changed, yet the frown was still quite evident even through the high cheekbones of the female Xavin and the angular jaw of the male Xavin. When Karolina reached out, she felt solid warm flesh to her touch.

It _felt_ real enough.

"I thought you were dead," Karolina said, her hands bunching Xavin's tight space ready suit. There was a gash across Xavin's changing cheek, the blood still faintly wet."You were gone, and then—"

She broke off, a sob caught in her throat. She buried her head against Xavin and smelled that familiar faintly exotic scent all Xavin's own. Like the scent of a fragrant wood she'd never encountered before, at least not in this solar system. In a second, Xavin's strong arms were about her, Xavin's breasts pushed against her own. The same comfort.

"Love," Xavin said, almost a gentle admonishment. "Did you really think I'd be bested so easily?"

"But, there was so _many_," Karolina said. A whole planet's worth of majesdanians, a punishment, the skrulls—"

"I'm a _skrull warrior. _I am not so easily bested, especially with the thought of you waiting back here for me," Xavin said. "I would have come sooner, love, but I needed to refuel after such a battle."

The thought made her want to laugh with giddiness. Had Xavin really defeated an entire planet–an entire _race_ for her? Somehow, she could believe it. Feeling a glimmer of hope for the first time in a long time, she gripped up to Xavin's high collar and pulled them closer.

The kiss tasted like coffee.


End file.
